1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical connector cleaner for cleaning a ferrule end surface of an optical fiber connector at optical connector junction job sites or in the manufacturing process.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally, optical connectors of various types have been used to facilitate connection or disconnection of optical fibers. For instance, in the case of a single fiber connector, an optical fiber is bonded at a center of a cylindrical rod (called herein a cylindrical ferrule); the cylindrical ferrule is inserted into a precisely-formed cylindrical hollow portion of an alignment sleeve; and then two opposing ferrule end surfaces are butted together and connected to each other for alignment of the two opposite fibers. Further, in the case of a multifiber connector, a plurality of fibers are arranged in a predetermined position and bonded to a resin cubic body (called herein a cubic ferrule); and then the two cubic ferrules are engaged with each other via two guide pins and two small-diameter guide holes so that two opposing ferrule end surfaces of a plurality of arranged fibers are butted and connected to each other for alignment of two opposite fibers, respectively.
These optical connectors are widely used in particular, in the optical communications field, because the optical connectors are provided with excellent connection characteristics. In these optical connectors, however, since the two opposite end surfaces of the optical fibers are directly connected to each other, in case the ferrule end surfaces are contaminated by contaminants such as dust or oil, the connection characteristics are markedly deteriorated.
Therefore, it is indispensable to clean the ferrule end surface before the ferrules are connected to each other. Conventionally, as shown in FIGS. 1(A) and 1(B), the end surface of the ferule 02 of an optical connector 01 has been wiped by soft cloth or paper 03 dampened with ethanol and then flone gas (a general term representative of fluorocarbon) 04 has been blown against the end surface of the ferrule 02 to remove the remaining ethanol and cloth or paper dust.
In the conventional cleaning method, however, there exist various problems in that the cleaning work is complicated; the end surface of the ferrule 02 is contaminated with moisture due to the evaporation heat of the ethanol or with a fluid when a flone gas cylinder vessel (bombe) is reversed on the ferrule 02.